Yeah obviously centripital force probably pulled that ring right off the flywheel. Maybe the cast aluminum bell housing had some imperfections that cause the flywheel to get caught on it. Either way something went wrong with that flywheel first.
I do drive the car hard once in a while but this happened while just cruising on the highway. I did ask JHM if they have seen this before but didn’t get an answer. I’ve searched for this exact problem but didn’t find anything. I appear to be the only one, on the forums at least, to have this kind of failure.
One thing I did notice on the new flywheel is the welds that hold the ring on are about half the size. Maybe the heat from the welding process weakened the metal which caused the failure.
My car is FINALLY back up and running. Definitely a good feeling to have done something I’ve never done before and have it come out right the first time. Does anyone know if there is a break in period for the new flywheel? I’m dying to give her hell after driving a B5 1.8t for over a month.
Probably the same as breaking in a completely new clutch.
Did they completely warranty out the old flywheel for a new one?
I’m sending it back to JHM monday. Once they receive it they said they would reimburse me. I ordered some additional parts from them when they shipped the flywheel and there was a “core discount” off my bill so it looks like they hooked me up a little bit. Didn’t completely cover the cost of a new RPM sensor and throw out bearing but it was something.